Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers and baseball.

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One for the bullish

My longtime friend, former Stanford Daily colleague and all-around smarter-than-your-average bear Mark Rogowsky has analyzed the Dodger sale and comes to the conclusion that the finances more than hold up. It’s lengthy but definitely worth your time. Read it here.

I’m not too convinced by your friend’s analysis. My biggest concern is not that Magic’s group paid so much more than what the “experts” expected, but that they paid so much more than anyone else was willing to pay. If I understood correctly, the winning offer was so much higher (25%) than the next person that McCourt decided to forgo an actual auction.

Cohen and the other bidders had much better information than your friend, but they apparently did not see the Dodgers as being worth anything close to that amount.

I think I’m in the minority in wishing that the Cohen group bought the team. The fact that a lot of the money comes from an insurance/investment company kind of scares me, because my understanding is that there are fairly strict rules in regard to fiduciary responsibilities that apply to those kinds of firms. Who knows how those rules might manifest in team operations? I would much prefer someone buy the team as a hobby rather than as an investment.

http://www.dodgerthoughts.com/ Jon Weisman

I think a lot of people liked the idea of the Cohen group because of the personal fortunes involved.

The winning offer was way higher than the most recent high bid, but keep in mind that the other finalists were reportedly miffed that they didn’t get a chance to counter the Guggenheim bid. I expect if the auction had gone to fruition (as opposed to McCourt going, “Good enough for me!”), the difference in bids would have been less.

And at the end, does it matter whether the Dodgers are worth $1.5 billion or $2.15 billion if they are profitable, or if their losses are tolerable? At the end, I’m convinced that the operating strategy for each ownership group is not tied to what the purchase price is. They’re going to do what they’re going to do. I do not believe that the Guggenheim group is going to skip doing something that they would have done had they paid less for the team. I think they’ll just operate the same with less money in the bank.